SXSW is a mega conference/festival for geeks in Austin, Texas, United States. They don’t care about themselves – they care about their audience, and they care passionately. But most important they cared about their message and about us as an audience. Then after 10 minutes of speaking he turned it over Mega means over 10,000 attendees. I

Speaking and Twitter dominance The experience of South by South West (SXSW) in Austin is like the Great as back channel, speakers can see what audience wants Tradeoffs - can distract speaker, be rude, discount audience Note taking useful for in house audience Wild West - it's the frontier of Social Media converging with traditional conference, dominated dominated by Twitter.

Now there ARE great new possibilities, particularly with high tech audiences like at SXSW, and others. Engage and excite your audience and they will be compelled to listen, and watch! •    That’s still the solution to the almost 90% of speaking situations where Twittering would not be appropriate (see below). Now for the bad: •    In probably 80-90% of most business and conference settings speakers have a message to give – at keynote speeches and large company Business speakers (and leaders, keynoters, politicians, Pastors and, well, everyone…) need to be aware that like it or not, Twitter is coming to their speaking experience. Be Aware, and Beware!

Even though I’m an “okay” presenter, it was easy to see right away some areas of development and the power that great delivery has in connecting with the audience and conveying ideas well. scan the audience and don’t look anyone in the eye, I’m swaying and leaning on one foot or the other, I keep my hands cupped in front of me and my legs crossed. Spending the day at Decker was delightful. Shortly after arriving, the transformation of my delivery techniques was well underway.

Keeping the audience eyes’ on you rather than their laptops benefits both you and the audience. Audiences don’t suddenly become dumber when they sit down to hear you speak — no reason to “dumb down” anything! It’s not scientific, but it feels about the same as an audience member seated towards the back of a large room with an 18-foot screen at the front. 20 tips for better conference speaking ~ 16 February 2009 ~ View from on stage as I’m preparing to speak at An Event Apart New Orleans 2008. I’ll be straight

New communicators connect with EVERY audience – no matter the setting – in: • behavior • content • interaction well will succeed mightily. (8) You attended SXSW in Austin, TX earlier this year. Good friend and communicator Chris Spagnuolo has a great blog called Edgehopper (that's his frog above) - and he was nice enough to interview me . In case you missed it: Ten Questions with Bert Decker (1) In

New media presentations, music showcases and film screenings provide buzz-generating exposure for creators and compelling entertainment for audiences. Austin serves as the perfect backdrop for SXSW, where career development flourishes amid the relaxed atmosphere. Panelists are currently being chosen for South by Southwest , and YOU get to help decide who makes it in the lineup! This year, you get a say in ALL THREE categories–music, film, and interactive!

Are you holding audiences in the palm of your hand? Digging for the Treasures in Your Stories” with Emory Austin, CSP, CPAE “The with Glenna Salsbury, CSP, CPAE Your platform effectiveness is powerfully enhanced by your clarity of unique message. Are you experiencing repeat and referral business time after time?

After an hour's time, the halls in Austin were more than half empty, and an opportunity to showcase one of technology's biggest successes in the last few decades was for the most part lost. Time and again, when I ask my readers what they fear most, several mention the fear that, despite their best effort, their speech will fall flat, get no reaction or a bad reaction--that there will be a mismatch between what they see and what the audience sees. No one would have bet on this, but by all accounts, yesterday's SXSW keynote by Twitter CEO Ev Williams flopped. Louis Gray sums up what

Tara Leigh Tappert recommended "my friend Ramona Austin , who is the curator at the Barron Gallery at Old Dominion University in Virginia. Notice how, even from a lectern, she looks at and engages her audience in all parts of the hall. Last year, another speaker coach asked me to help find video examples of today's top women speakers , because he was having trouble finding examples to share with trainees that were of current, rather than historic women speakers. This year, for Black History Month, I asked readers on Facebook and Twitter to help me crowd-source a list of today's